Alhamdulillah, I had already payed the debt for May's hostel rental. And then I managed to get the papers for few months internship in KL. I hope everything goes on as what had been planned but if something different happen then I must quickly recognize everything is in His knowledge.
After the friday congregational prayer, I received an sms from a friend of mine who works in women's development center. The center is also called as KANITA in USM.
He informed me about the seminar. I think that maybe I could learn something new in the seminar organized by the center so I just agreed to be there. The seminar was about expressive body approach. I am not really an artist and not really well-educated about dances but I do familiar about few things in south east asian buddhism which are also connected to animism including several dances and trances in southern thailand.
Too bad I didn't get to jot down few points from the presenter whose name is Aida Redza since I didn't bring pen. I love to jot down everything that I heard because I believe in certain times we may use the lectures for other aspects of life. I heard that she is a contrversial dancer of Malaysia. I don't really know her and from her speech, I could see that she does not really agree with the syari'ah court concerning child custody because she is a divorcee. The center is for women so they could say anything they want in their place. I would never question them. Anyway, I am not here to talk about her or the center. I don't care who she is but I just want to recapture what I've got to learn today.
We learned about the choreography of dance. She retaliates to us about how we could own our body in the sense of making movement and being creative in giving instructions or executing instructions. It is very abstract that I could not easily grasp the speech. It also has to do with communication and teamwork when she proposed us to do. I regret that I could not avoid from touching or being touched by others especially of different gender but I should also respect them in the seminar and not being too strict. I tried to avoid being in contact with all of the people as possible as I can.
The first part of the seminar we did some movements, and then doing some massaging on our own bodies. I take it positively, no evil thinking. And then we have to be in a pair. I was paired with Sardar. He is a Muslim Sri Lankan guy and it is like we are guiding each other on our movements. It is to see how we manipulate each others without necessarily touching each other, trusting our friends. But I had hold the guy's hand because I am afraid that he would bump into girls. It is also to see the guided person being creative with his or her movements. We are stiff because of norms around that making us do not dare to try something new.
Well, I admit that. When I was a little kid, I have to avoid being a cheerful kid according to my way because friends around would laugh at me or looking at me like a clown. At home, my sisters would shut my mouth up when I began to talk except my dad and mom who always listens to me when they are driving so they could avoid feeling sleepy.
But that was when I was a little kid. I slowly turned to be a different person when I became a young youth. And now, I am totally different from before and some people said I look serious. I could not believe what they said, because I am not really a serious person. I could bend myself according to situations around. Aren't all of the people like that? We can't expect a person to laugh when there is a sad news. Or being angry when receiving good news.
The second part, a person chosen to laid down on two pieces of big thin papers to be drawn around with a marker pen. We may lay down according to our creativity and then decorate the shape with whatever we feel suitable. And then we have to explain about the significance through dancing. So, we can see some of the dances in the pictures here.
These two performed a dance called lust, love, and life. The beginning part of this team is a bit loud so I leave it behind to respect the eyes of others, haha. The girl with the spectacle acts with erotic movement and it's quite creepy for me.
This team is working on a dance about fire something. The guy called Jeevan Supiramaniam in the middle had explained something regarding hindu philosophy about the fire in the stomach where it burns the food in the digestive system, called peetha. This is a new knowledge. The one with red shirt is my friend, Azren and the one with white shirt is Sardar. I thought that he is a Hindu but he doesn't look like one.
This one is the drawing from my team. The picture is me laying down on the paper and marked down by Mun (in the picture) and Fatimah. The symbols there like ice cream and everything there would be explained through movements.
It is not easy to be a leader even in dancing it shows. But if we do not take the chance to prove ourselves, we would stuck forever on the same stage. This is according to common way of speech. I am not talking in religious sense here but in human way of speech according to what I tried to understand the choreographer had said. If in religious side, maybe being an imaam is a training for a leader. I always try to avoid being an imaam but somehow if the situation needs an imaan and I am appointed to be one I would have to accept the burden of sins behind me.
A shot while waiting for the bus. I love how the trees look like near the pharmaceutical center. Unfortunately, I had lost few pictures of the lake and environment around in my old files. I wanted to get them back.
As for today, I had learned about being confident with ourselves. Just be ourselves and do not really think about how people would perceive us. We can't stop everyone from thinking and let people think. We just do everything as well as we can. I also get new friends like Mun from Thailand and another two international students from Sri Lanka which are Jeevan and Sardar.
Peaceful saturday dear brothers and sisters who are striving in guarding the Quran in their heart. Chant salawaat to prophet Muhammad (saw) and his family and his companion may we have a blessed holy day: "allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aali Muhammad." Friday evening before maghrib is also a good time for personal prayers. Sealed with love and prayers for peace.
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